


A certain day of summer

by noseforsatu (berryargento)



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: F/F, FE3H Secret Santa, Minor Dorothea/Petra mentioned, Post-Canon, Short
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-01
Updated: 2019-12-01
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:13:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21632740
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/berryargento/pseuds/noseforsatu
Summary: Byleth came back to Edelgard's office with unusual but special letter. Secret Santa gift.
Relationships: Edelgard von Hresvelg/My Unit | Byleth
Comments: 2
Kudos: 54





	A certain day of summer

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! I happened to be allowed in one of Secret Santa thing (this is my first) and the recipient is okay with Edeleth, so I'm trying to make one. It is light and short so I hope you can enjoy it! I hope it will be a passable gift.
> 
> Thank you for reading and please do enjoy your day.

Just like any other busy day in the palace of Enbarr, Byleth would be back from greeting the mountain of letter directed to the Emperor the moment she stepped to the front desk.

That afternoon, she was called to help Linhardt with something about Crest Analysis in his office, then she took a detour to the front desk. Be it morning or afternoon, there will always be letters waiting so Byleth made sure she checked often, especially when she’s away from the study room belonged to the Emperor of Adrestia – now the leader of unified Fodlan.

Her next job as she got the letters would be sorting it one by one, as sometimes there would be letters for others that happened to be swamped in Emperor’s box. That one time, letter directed to Hubert or Ferdinand ended up there, or sometimes it is a letter meant to the governmental officers instead directly to Edelgard.

Byleth surely missed an actual fieldwork as mercenary, but as she’s still recovering from the last battle in Fhirdiad, her span of work now circulated more inside the palace, assisting Edelgard in administration duty. There is a mountain of paperwork needed to be done almost every day, even more if Edelgard is going out somewhere in Fodlan to access the current situation – as the right minister wrote their report, Edelgard would have her own personal report as well.

Byleth made sure that an exact amount of important documents are done by the day so it won’t inconvenience them by the next day—all in the while trying to keep an eye on Edelgard by ensuring she got well-rested.

She will sort the letter by one of vacant table at the palace’s library before going up to meet Edelgard at the study room. Byleth chose library as it is the most vacant place in the afternoon, also the place where she won’t bother any government officials who’s bustling in and out of the main palace area.

The letter coming from the old Faerghus region would come with blue seal. Yellow seal belonged to the old Alliance. Some of letters coming from outside of Fodlan would have marked initials on the envelope, like ‘A’ for Almyra or ‘B’ for Brigid. Then again, letters from another country came in rarely, and usually never addressed to Edelgard directly.

This particular letter came from Brigid, with black uppercase ‘B’ marked on the cream-colored envelope. Byleth sped up her sorting of other letters since the only letter coming from Brigid is only that envelope. The ex-Professor already have an idea of who the sender might be, but she left the reading until she is done with task at hand.

When Byleth read the sender of the mysterious letter from Brigid, her face lighted up almost too quickly. She pocketed the letter while leaving the other stacks on her hands, sorted and tidied, as she departed for Edelgard’s office.

* * *

“You really don’t have to politely knock for every time, my teacher.”

Even then, Edelgard smiled as she welcomed Byleth to her office.

“It is a part of good mannerism.” Byleth replied.

Byleth placed the letters on the box by the left side of the room, the yellow one is for the unread letters and the blue one is for the read. The letters in blue box is either ready to be thrown away as there’s no importance left on them, or needed to be forwarded to another officers after Edelgard’s approval. There never be a day without letters, while other workload for the Emperor is quite overwhelming. Byleth helped reading some letters some time, and she will ask Edelgard for her sign later as she agreed.

As she is stuck in her office, Edelgard wore a white shirt that’s tucked inside her fit black pants. She told Byleth that her red cape only needed when she is out to public, and she didn’t feel the need to wear her horned crown ever-so-often. Though indoors, Edelgard kept wearing a pair of white gloves. A force of habit, so the Emperor said, even though mostly it is only them by the office and Byleth knew all too well about the Emperor’s hidden scars.

From the corner of her eyes, Byleth watched the intensity of the white-haired woman’s work before choosing the right time to bring up about the letter. Knowing that Byleth processed the letters per usual, Edelgard left the task to her, as she continued to run her quill over something. Perhaps more written orders. Or something that related to Crest Research. Byleth didn’t try to pry as Edelgard is concentrating over the task – it is better to get the job done first and leave the talking later at the appropriate time.

“Are you free this afternoon, El?”

Edelgard perked up, “I am. Is something the matter?”

Seeing the urgency in the way Edelgard stopped her writing and straightening on her seat, Byleth corrected herself, “Oh, it’s not something bad. We got a letter from Brigid."

At the mention, Byleth showed the said cream envelope. Edelgard followed, “From Dorothea and Petra?”

The blue-haired woman affirmed with a nod. “Maybe we can read this over an afternoon tea.”

“You sure always come up with a great idea, my teacher.” A pause. “Well, I just hope Hubert didn’t berate me over paperwork all too soon.”

“He won’t,” Byleth assured with a smile. A smile that she only meant for Edelgard alone. “No one will ever disturb your resting time in my watch.”

“You’re too kind, my teacher.”

* * *

The current summer in Enbarr was not particularly hot like any other days that has passed, perhaps the season is changing early. Adrestia region has always been one with hotter climate rather than Faerghus and Leicester, despite it is being situated nearby the cold tundra of Dagda.

There’s a private gazebo located far on the back of the palace garden. The couple decided that the empty lot to be their destination of resting when they wanted a change of pace or a fresh air. The back garden is a bit closed off than the front yard, with more tall topiary walls as the decorum. That place is their destination of tea time as of this afternoon, and Byleth has been quite well-prepared before she asked Edelgard to grace the gazebo together with her, hand in hand.

Byleth was grateful with the nice weather especially this afternoon, so that the warm tea she served would serve to be enjoyable. She can always serve a cold tea as it is summer, but cold tea won’t mesh well with freshly-made baked treats. She might not be the one who made the confectioneries as she is busy today, but the kitchen staffs already familiar with her (and her tendency to help out with the food preparation when she’s able to), and they whisked out a big palate of biscuits in many flavors without Byleth asking first. One of the kitchen staffs winked, saying their salutations to the Emperor before Byleth left them to brew the tea.

Her choice of tea today is not Edelgard’s favorite, but she should have known, as the situation of the harvest has been scarce because of the transition of season.

“Is it Rose blend?” Edelgard guessed as she watched Byleth poured their respective cups for tea after tidying the tray of cookies.

“Yes, it is one of the surviving blend coming from Alliance.” Byleth answered. “There will be some time before our land can get more of Hresvelg blend.”

“I don’t mind,” Edelgard shook her head. “Your perfect brewing skill always make up for it.”

“You flatter me, El.”

“I must,” a pregnant pause. Edelgard took a sip. “Because you are my dearest. You deserve of every praises.”

It is Byleth’s turn to pause, blinking. She could feel her own heart falling and unable to reply one of many Edelgard’s attempt on praising (or was it called flirting? She heard it before from Dorothea). Edelgard, on the other hand, coughed awkwardly to her gloved fist after her own sip.

“T-The tea is delicious. How, how about we proceed to the letter now?”

“R, right.”

Edelgard waited until Byleth opened the envelope, making sure she didn’t tear on the wrong side and damage the letter inside. After smoothing the paper away from disturbing folds over the written messages, Byleth pulled her chair close to Edelgard’s. Their shoulders were touching as they huddled over to read together, though Edelgard took a liberty to speak the letter aloud.

_Dear Professor and Edelgard, I hope both of you are doing well in the scorching summer in Enbarr._

_I initially asked Petra as the one to write the letter, but she declined, saying that ‘she would not make the letter proper’, so here I am writing this letter for you from us._

_Brigid has been exceptionally cold for me and my first months here, but Petra dear always help me to warm! Not to mention, she helped me around to be accepted around Brigid—the people are very friendly, they gave us potatoes or corns almost every day when we passed by their fields._

The letter goes on with mostly Dorothea’s narrative of her new life in Brigid. After the war, Byleth remembered, Petra asked Dorothea to follow her to her homeland and be by her side. The difference in culture should be challenging, but Dorothea had made up her mind. Though they might not officially wed in Adrestia, they should have been doing so in Brigid, as the letter mentioned a few occasion of how they are happily together.

“What a heartwarming letter.”

Edelgard commented. It was long three pages, the Emperor paused in-between for a little tea break and Byleth allowed for a comfortable silence to set in as Edelgard contemplated between one stories to another.

Dorothea and Petra are doing their best there in Brigid, just like how Byleth and Edelgard are in the new unified Fodlan. The war is no more, they finally had a chance to recover the world to be better. Then again, even as everything is better than how it was, there is no denying that every passing days could be so tiring. The wall between statuses has yet to be broken. The force beckoning the dark has yet to be vanquished. The restoration of every damage and of every wounded souls have progressed slow and unnerving.

At times, Byleth would see Edelgard held her weary smile on her face, though she tried to unmask it each time Byleth called up on her.

Just like now, Edelgard is happy – apparent from how her eyes sparkled after the letter, yet it is her weary smile that formed not long after. Ghosting. Fleeting. Searching for a comfort while she knew the time and place are not exactly appropriate.

The blue-haired woman looped her arms on the small of Edelgard’s back, pulling her close to her way.

_She won’t let Edelgard relent for today, not ever._

“Professor?”

Edelgard looked up, her tone was close to a whisper, moored with surprise.

“We are alone, El. You can call me with my name.”

“But …”

“It’s your resting time. And we have all the time in the world,” Byleth nudged at the crown of the white hair, giving it a little peck. “And it’s nothing wrong to grant yourself a well-deserved idleness—we can march to work again after you feel refreshed.”

Byleth has never been so good with words—she might be a teacher, but she is first and foremost a mercenary. She was not sure if her words reached Edelgard properly and able to ruse her from her anxiety; from the mask she always wear on the time every eyes is watching. ‘Action speaks louder than words’ perhaps ring true, though Byleth refrained to go too fast or too overboard, while keeping Edelgard as comfortable as possible.

Edelgard reached for her free right hand on her lap with a squeeze. Byleth took her time to brush on the purple-eyed ring by the Emperor’s ring finger, before she responded the squeeze with lacing their fingers together. Edelgard leaned deeper to the crook of Byleth’s neck, rested her head there whilst Byleth nuzzled over.

“Thank you, Byleth.”

Her voice, small and shy, though never lose the strong nuance in it always make Byleth felt so full.

“Anytime, my dear El.”


End file.
